WRENS EARLY DESIGNS 145 



was also probably helped by his carpenter, one R. Frogley. The 

 roof itself has been renewed, but drawings of it were published 

 by Dr Plot in his " Natural History^ of Oxfordshire," and were 

 reproduced in " Parentalia." Its most remarkable feature was 

 the long tie-beam of the principals, which being too long for 

 one piece of timber, was made up of three pieces ingeniously 

 jointed, or " scarfed," together. There are still tie-beams to the 

 roof, but they are hidden in the thickness of the attic floor, and 

 it is impossible to say whether they are Wren's or not. But 

 as the disposition of all the visible timbers is quite different 

 from those shown by Plot, the inference is that there is nothing 

 left of Wren's ingenious roof. With the old roof went Wren's 

 ugly dormers as well as his turret, which was replaced by that 

 which exists to-day. 



The other work at Oxford, attributed to Wren, rests its 

 claims, except in the case of the Tom Tower of Christ Church, 

 on little or no evidence. Even in the case of Trinity College, 

 where letters show him to have been consulted, he appears to 

 have done nothing beyond sending, in 1664, to his friend, Dr 

 Bathurst, the president, a letter with alternative plans and an 

 elevation ; and in criticising, in 1692, a design for the chapel. 

 There is no evidence that he actually carried out any work here 

 in the formal capacity of architect. About so notable a feature 

 of Oxford as the Tom Tower it would be rash to say anything 

 in disparagement. But this much may perhaps be said without 

 offence. It is at least doubtful whether the designer of the 

 lower part, which is the original Gothic work, would have been 

 satisfied with Wren's completion. The scale is different, the 

 detail is different ; the whole conception is out of harmony with 

 Gothic ideas. Yet it is still less allied to anything classic ; the 

 fact is that Wren was working in a style which he did not 

 understand, and which he frankly disliked. We get much 

 nearer to the heart of the man by studying another aspect of 

 his work at Oxford, his drawings preserved in the library at 

 All Souls. There are four large volumes of them, comprising 

 designs for various works, including alterations to one or two 

 large houses ; but the most interesting are those connected 

 with St Paul's Cathedral. In these volumes can be seen his 

 weakness and his strength, and, taken in conjunction with other 

 of his drawings preserved at St Paul's, they show how he felt 

 his way in architectural design. They also indicate that the 

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